Institution Ferial de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
2:56 PM CEST
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. If you have space, please sit down. You’d think someone else had entered the room. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here.
I think we can all agree that this was a historic NATO summit. Some of the people have been covering for me for a while. About a year and a half ago, when the first G-7 meeting took place in England, I spoke about the need to review NATO’s composition, how it works, and to devise a different strategy for – for NATO and how we work together. And – and in addition to that, we also talked about the G7 taking on additional responsibilities.
And before the war began, I told Putin that if he invaded Ukraine, NATO would not only become stronger, but also more united. And we would see democracies in the world stand up and oppose its aggression and defend the rule of law. And that is exactly what we see today.
This summit was to strengthen our Alliance, to meet the challenges of our world as it is today and the threats we will face in the future.
The last time NATO issued a new mission statement was 12 years ago. At the time, it characterized Russia as a partner, and China did not even mention it. The world has changed, changed a lot since then. NATO is also changing.
At this summit, we united our alliances to meet both the direct threats that Russia poses to Europe and the systemic challenges that China poses to world order rules.
And we invited two new members to join NATO. It was a historic act. Finland and Sweden, two countries with a long tradition of neutrality and have chosen to join NATO.
Some of the American press will remember when I received a phone call from the leader of Finland and he said that he could come and see me. And he came the next day and said, “Will you support my accession – my country’s accession to NATO?”
We called on the phone and he offered to call the leader of Switzerland – “Switzerland”, well done – my God. I’m starting to really worry about NATO enlargement. (Laughter.) From Sweden. And what happened was that we called on the phone and she asked if she could come the next day to want to talk about joining NATO.
Allies on all sides are strengthening, increasing defense spending. Most of them are about to exceed 2 percent of GDP for the first time. They agreed to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense.
Take Germany, for example: Germany has pledged to spend 2 percent on the future and has announced a special fund for its army of more than $ 100 billion. Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have announced that they will also meet their 2 per cent commitments. Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania make up more than 2.5 percent, some up to 3 percent.
Together, we are deploying more assets and opportunities to strengthen our alliances in all domains – land, air, sea, cybernetics and space.
We have reaffirmed that our commitment under Article 5 is sacred. And an attack on one is an attack on all, and we will defend every inch of NATO territory. Every inch of NATO territory.
For its part, the United States is doing exactly what I said it would do if Putin invaded: strengthening its position on the armed forces in Europe. We will put more ships here in Spain. We have more air defense in Italy and Germany; more F-35s in the UK; and to strengthen our eastern flank, a new permanent headquarters of the Fifth Army Corps in Poland. In addition, an additional brigade combat team stationed in Romania and additional rotational deployments in the Baltic States.
Things are changing to adapt to the world we have today. And all this is against the background of our response to NATO – to Russian aggression and to help Ukraine defend itself.
The United States is uniting the world to stand with Ukraine. Allies and partners around the world are making significant contributions.
Minister Austin has just brought together more than 50 countries – more than 50 countries – promising new commitments, and this is a global effort to support Ukraine: nearly 140,000 anti-tank systems, more than 600 tanks, nearly 500 artillery systems, more than 600,000 cartridge artillery ammunition, as well as advanced multiple rocket launchers, anti-ship systems and air defense systems.
Again, the United States is leading. We have provided nearly $ 7 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since I took office. Over the next few days, we plan to announce more than $ 800 million, including a new improved Western air defense system for Ukraine, more artillery and ammunition, battery-powered radars, additional ammunition for the HIMARS multiple rocket launcher system we already have in mind, Ukraine, and more. HIMARS, coming from other countries as well.
In addition, we welcomed for the first time our partners from the Indo-Pacific region to participate in the NATO Summit. As I told Putin, this will be – his action will provoke a global response, bringing together democratic allies and partners from the Atlantic and Pacific to focus on the challenges that matter to our future and to defend the rule of law against the challenges. . , including from China.
At G7 in Germany, we also launched the idea of building better, but it has become a Global Infrastructure and Investment Partnership to offer developing countries and middle-income countries better opportunities to meet their urgent infrastructure needs. Because when the United States and the G-7 brought the skin into the game, it helped bring millions of dollars to – above all – probably $ 1 trillion in private sector money – $ 600 billion over the next few years alone.
Unlike China, these projects will be carried out transparently and with very high standards. For example, the US government has just facilitated a new partnership between two US companies and the Angolan government to invest $ 2 billion in building a significant solar project in Angola. It is a partnership to help Angola meet its climate goals and energy needs, while creating new markets for US technology and good jobs in Angola. As you have heard me say before: when I think of ‘climate’, I think of ‘jobs’.
And the G7 also said we would work together to tackle abusive and forced trade practices in China and free our supply chains from forced labor products.
We have instructed our teams to work on the details of the Russian oil price cap to reduce Putin’s revenue without hurting Americans and others at the gas station.
We will seek to use the proceeds of tariffs on Russian goods to help Ukraine recover.
We are committed – we have set aside more than $ 4.5 billion – more than half of that from the United States – to tackle food insecurity and the immediate crisis caused by the Russian war.
At every step of this journey, we place a marker on the unity, determination and deep capacity of democratic nations around the world to do what is right. Putin thought he could break the transatlantic alliance. He tried to weaken us. He expected our determination to break. But he gets exactly what he didn’t want.
He wanted Findalization [Finlandization] of NATO. He received the NATOization of Finland.
Just think about it: that’s what he thought. Now NATO [Finland] and Sweden are closer than ever to accession. And it will happen.
We are more united than ever. And with the addition of Finland and Sweden, we will be stronger than ever. They have serious military both. We will increase the NATO border by 800 miles along the Finnish-Russian border. Sweden is everything.
The question is: We are achieving the goals we set when we were there for the first time – the first G-7 meeting. We are moving to a place that reflects the realities of the 20th – second quarter of the 21st century. And we are on the verge of making significant progress.
I will now be happy to answer your questions. And the first question, I was told, was Darlene Superville of the Associated Press.
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Two questions, please.
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) Of course.
The “America is back” question was your motto at the first NATO summit last year. And you came to this summit here and the one in Germany after the US Supreme Court overturned constitutional abortion protection, after the Buffalo and Texas shootings, at a time of record inflation, and as new polls this week show that 85 the percentage of the US public thinks the country is going in the wrong direction.
How do you explain this to those people who think the country is going in the wrong direction, including some of the leaders you met this week who think that when you put it all together, this is an America going backwards?
THE PRESIDENT: They don’t think so. You have not found a single person – a world leader – to say that America is going backwards. America is in a better position to lead the world than we have ever been. We have the strongest economy in the world. Our inflation rates are lower than other nations in the world. The only thing that is destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the United States Supreme Court regarding the annulment not only of Rowe v. Wade, but also, in essence, the challenge to the right to privacy.
We have been a world leader in terms of personal rights and privacy rights, and I think it is a mistake for the Supreme Court to do what it did.
But I haven’t seen anyone come to me and do anything …
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